Chili – Family, fun, tradition
The Trout Unlimited Chili Cook Off brings more than 2,000 out to Ridge Ferry Park.
“I tell people I make my chili how I like my women — hot but sweet,” said Steve Durbin, a longtime chili maker who was behind bars Saturday during the 22nd annual Trout Unlimited Chili Cook Off at Ridge Ferry Park.
Durbin, of Jonesboro’s American Legion Post 258, was parked in his wheelchair inside a prop jail cell that was part of the theme of his team’s cook site. Two young girls were dressed in prisoners’ garb as they hollered out for the over 2,000 attendees to come and taste Durbin’s chili.
The sign he was holding told of his crime — hit and run, which is fitting since he is also known as Santa Claus.
“You’re on the outside, you’re doing better than me,” said Durbin, who for 39 years has participated in chili cook offs, 19 of those at the local event.
The U.S. Army veteran said he may add one ingredient each year, but for the most part the chili he offered Saturday was what he has made for so many years before. Losing his sight has limited what he can do, but that just may be a good thing when it comes to chili recipes.
“Being blind, you don’t got nothin’ to do but to think,” he said. “I come up with all kinds of ideas.”
There were 78 cook sites reserved and over 70 recipes used, said Paul Diprima, an organizer of the cook off, which is the main fundraiser for Trout Unlimited. A final tally of the event’s proceeds was still being calculated Saturday evening, but he said, “We did pretty doggone good.” The money brought in is put toward conservation education programs.
The team of Gettin Kinda Chili, made up of husband-and-wife duo Pete and Tammy Nolan from Hiram, kept with tradition by camping out with the family and doling out cups of chili for another year. They have participated in every year the event has gone on, “and we got the flags to prove it,” said Pete Nolan, referring to the keepsakes given out each year.
“The kids pretty much grew up here,” he said, adding that the event is a family affair filled with fun.
“People remember us,” said Tammy Nolan.
As Kenny Reeves, scooped out team Rub-N-Alcohol’s chili from a mason jar, tasters came up and asked if it was hot, seeing the peppers laid out at the booth. “I don’t think so,” he said. But he did admit that his wife doesn’t exactly see eyeto-eye with that opinion.
Trout Unlimited members hope the cook off doubles in size next year, and Diprima encouraged people out there to “go dig up grandma’s old recipe, … and don’t change it, just cook it.”